The Consumerist posts about how a man is being required by the state to pay back $19,000 in unemployment benefits.

From Oct. 2008 until March 2010, the man had worked in a maintenance job for a service company owned by the Catholic Diocese of Camden. When he was laid off, he applied for, and received, unemployment benefits.

That is, up until a few months ago when the state told him there was a mistake and he needed to repay all $19,295 of the benefits he’d benefited from.

Before the warm winds start to usher in the sunny days and activity-filled evenings, sit down and get your finances in order. You’ll be surprised at how much of a relief it will be once your finances and office are organized in a manner that helps not only your budget, but your sanity as well.

DailyFinance.composts about the 8 biggest financial heroes and villains of 2011.

In a year saturated with big financial headlines — the debt-ceiling debate, Occupy Wall Street protests, the ongoing mortgage crisis and the eurozone meltdown, just to name just a few — identifying the fiscal heroes and villains is bound to be an exercise in oversimplification. But even against the constantly shifting backdrop provided by those major events, a handful of people and institutions grabbed and held the spotlight, for good or ill.

Savings means having breathing room: Having a cushion allows you the freedom to work through your emergency without having to go into debt at the same time. While it’s true that the money in your emergency fund will eventually run out, the same can be said about a line of credit. The difference is, after your emergency money is gone, you will still be debt-free. And should you need to look into other options for a long-term emergency situation, you will be that much farther ahead.

My Money Blog posts a comparison of our budget now with Americans 50-100 years ago.

A new article in The Atlantic dissects the information in a new government BLS report 100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending, focusing on the the differences in spending in 1900, 1950, and 2003.

Crystal Groves is a farmer, web developer, musician, blogger, and personal finance enthusiast from the back hills of Maryland and Pennsylvania. She started Money Drain as a project to encourage people interested in fixing their financial situation to share their stories and learn from the stories of others. We all make mistakes, but in order to change we have to make changes.